Faith
by morgana07
Summary: 1-shot. While checking on Sam after they return to the bunker, Dean discovers that something he feared lost years ago might not be so lost after all. *A short brother bonding moment set after the end of 11x10- The Devil is in the Details* Spoilers.


**Faith**

 **Summary:** _1-shot. While checking on Sam after they return to the bunker, Dean discovers that something he feared lost years ago might not be so lost after all. *A short brother bonding moment set after the end of 11x10- The Devil is in the Details* Spoilers._

 **Warning:** _Some mild language and some minor spoilers so be aware of that._

 **Tags:** _11x10 Devil is in the Details._

 **Spoilers:** _Yes, some._

 **Disclaimer:** _I don't own anything._

 **Author Note:** _This was actually meant to be something totally different. The muse took a turn so we have brother bonding, some schmoop and since this is the first 'gen' piece, as well as the first tag I've written in a while I hope you guys enjoy._

 **SPN SPN SPN SPN**

"You okay?" Dean Winchester stood in the door of his younger brother's bedroom, watching as he just sat where he'd been sitting since they got back to the bunker 90 minutes earlier. "Sammy?"

"I…I…" Sam considered the question, refusing to look up until he felt fingers on his face and slowly lifted his head just enough so he could see his concerned sibling from under wet lashes. "I was ready to die," he finally said quietly. "He did his damned best to make me see myself as weak, as a loser who had lost the strength to fight. He brought up Amelia and how I didn't look for you. He just kept saying how I didn't have it in me to fight, to watch those I loved die."

Dean had knelt down when he hadn't gotten a response right away so now he moved up until he was sitting on the side of the bed next to Sam. He still saw the dried blood on his brother's face as well as bruises that he'd noticed on Sam even before the fight inside the cage had escalated.

"I thought we covered why you dropped out of sight and ended up hitting a dog," Dean was careful broaching this topic since he knew it was still touchy. He reached over to catch Sam's jaw in his hand, turning it towards him. "You know none of that crap is true. You know it in here," he let his other hand move to rest over Sam's heart and saw his brother's eyes lift more.

"You're not weak, little brother. You never were and you never will be," Dean said in the tone that was pure proud big brother while carefully brushing a thumb over a line of blood that ran from Sam's head down his face. "How'd you get banged up before I got there?" he asked. "I didn't think the prick would risk bruising a possible vessel."

Sam's lips curved a little into a pained half smile as he winced at Dean's gentle examination of his face. "Oh, he never laid a hand on me…until I pissed him off," he admitted, going on at his brother's raised eyebrow. "It dawned on me sometime down memory lane what was happening. I knew he was trying to convince me that I couldn't fight the Darkness and that only he could. He still needed me to say that one word. And I wouldn't so that's when he got pissed off."

"Dude, you hate saying that word to anyone much less the damn devil who wants to wear you like a suit," Dean wasn't thrilled to know Lucifer had not only made Sam see memories that drudged up bad times but that the goddamn arrogant son of a bitch had then put his hands on his little brother just because he stood up to him.

"Besides, I pissed him off earlier by something I'd said and I knew if I could just hold on for a little while longer that I'd either die before giving into him or…it would be alright," Sam said once Dean had returned from hunting down their small First-Aid kit so he could clean the blood and bruises personally.

"I guess we need to have that talk again about pissing off already pissed off former Archangels who hate us and who still wanted to ride your ass outta Hell?" Dean decided to keep his tone light, trying to not let on how the hell scared he'd been from the moment he'd gotten Crowley's call to when he'd seen his brother in that damn cage. "And how exactly would dying be alright? Where in our rulebook ever said it was alright if you die?"

Sam hissed and tried to shift back from the strong odor of the antiseptic he'd caught a whiff of only to feel Dean's fingers curl in his hair in a warning that the younger Winchester remembered well. "I meant I knew if I could hold on, if he didn't kill me, that I knew it would be alright. And do you have to use that stuff?"

"Yeah, I do and stop being a baby about it," Dean shot back but did gentle his touch like he would when Sam was younger and had gotten hurt. "And tell me, oh wise one, how exactly did you know it would be alright?" he asked with a teasing grin starting to come; a grin that died the moment his brother spoke next.

"Because I knew you were coming and I knew that once you did that I'd be alright."

Dean's fingers stilled as they carefully cleaned Sam's face, hoping he'd covered his sharp inhale of breath at those words because he hadn't been expecting them.

Once, years ago, he wouldn't have been as surprised to hear Sam say that because before their world literally went to hell, Sam had never once had a reason to doubt that if he was in trouble then his big brother would be there. And while that had never changed, circumstances as well as other issues had made doubts crop up between them so Dean wasn't fully sure how Sam might still feel…until now.

"Despite it all, Dean; despite all the crap, the lies, the tricks played on us to have us against one another I never stopped believing in my big brother," Sam had caught his brother's reaction and understood it. "I think that's why I didn't completely panic when it hit me where I was. I knew you'd come through that door and be pissed. I told him that."

"Huh," Dean muttered softly. It took him another few seconds before the lump in his throat and the tightness in his chest. "You…still feel that way even after what I did under the Mark's control?" he asked tightly, needing to put some distance between them so he could try to get a grip on emotions he usually kept under tight lock and key but could feel slipping free now. "I tried to kill you."

"Dude, how many times in our lives either with Dad or since have we been possessed, hexed, cursed into trying to kill each other?" Sam countered with a smile. "He threw up the whole we die for one another or we sacrifice for each other and people die line on me too."

Dean inwardly cringed at that since he knew how many times that had happened but hadn't forgotten the words of Billy the Reaper. He feared the next time one of them died that there would be no coming back, no sacrificing or deal making so Dean was bound and determined to make sure if or when that moment happened that they both went out together or not at all.

"It used to be when we talked about this before starting the trials that I saw a light at the end of the tunnel for us," Sam began slowly, standing with a wince as his body had begun to feel the effects of Lucifer's attack. "Now…now I don't really see it as a light, Dean."

"And what do you see it as, Sammy?" Dean really didn't like that his ever optimistic brother wasn't seeing that proverbial light at the end of the tunnel anymore but he thought he knew why. "This about what Billy said?"

From the first time he'd met the Reaper, Sam had suspected how things would end for one of them. He'd known for years that they'd been screwing up natural selection and killing Death probably hadn't won them any favors either so the younger Winchester accepted that the next time he or his brother died that it was over for good.

Once upon a time, Sam had been ready to face that moment. He still was. It was just the fears that came along with dying that bothered him; especially given he also knew how his brother would react.

"More like a blaze," he finally responded and felt the light touch of fingers on the back of his neck; the same touch that he'd felt in the cage the moment Dean had gotten to him.

In the mirror on the wall of his room, Sam caught the sudden quirk of Dean's lips as he took those words in and knew he understood them when the fingers gave a light squeeze that had always meant comfort and security.

Dean had stepped up behind Sam when his brother had moved to the dresser to find a clean shirt. Letting his fingers settle on the back of Sam's neck, he let those words settle a moment before giving a gentle squeeze like he'd been doing since his brother had been small and the gesture was the only way Dean could give support without their father thinking he was coddling Sam too much.

"Blaze of glory, little brother?" he asked with a little smirk that was pure Dean Winchester.

"Yeah, this next time that's how it'll be," Sam agreed with a nod and wondered if it was normal to feel the usual sick knot he would feel with thoughts of dying slide away. "Both of us…"

"Or neither of us," Dean finished and met Sam's eyes in the mirror, seeing the truth in them as well as something he hadn't seen in nearly 11 years; a pure faith in not only what they did but in him. "We'll save the world or die trying, Sammy."

Sam moved a hand back slowly to let it grip the wrist of the hand Dean still had on his neck. The moment was brief but the connection between brothers reminded Sam of when it had just been them against normal evil. "Dean?"

"Okay, so enough of the chick flick stuff," Dean could feel the emotions heading towards one of those moments he still tried to avoid and knew if he let it go there then every fear and worry he'd felt for Sam earlier would come out. He preferred those moments when he was alone. "You go hit a shower, change and by then I'll have whipped up some burgers and fries."

Knowing that Dean's infamous 'no-chick flick moments' rule was still firmly in place and observed unless one of them were suffering serious injuries, Sam gave a tired smile as he nodded and started digging in his dresser.

Dean hesitated by the door, his hand on the frame to glance back and watch Sam a moment longer. He saw his brother's hand pause and knew what he was probably doing because Dean had seen what Sam had carefully hidden in the one drawer one time when he was snooping and rearranging Sam's clothes just to play with him.

He considered saying something but decided to wait. The hunter knew Sam would act, would bring up the items he kept stored there and in his nightstand when he felt safe enough to do so without risking possible sarcasm.

"Hey!" he did finally call out once he'd stepped into the hallway but noticed that Sam was tensing as if thinking too hard about something. "You do know that not even being the Devil would've stopped me from ripping his lungs out if you had been hurt too bad when I got there, don't you?"

Sam guessed he'd started to go too deep into his memories because he gave a start at the sudden deep voice that spoke. He carefully slid the small item that he'd been debating bringing out back into the pouch he kept it in to half turn to see his brother watching him with eyes that told Sam his brother knew what was happening.

"Is that rule still in the top five of Dean Winchester's list of rules?" he asked with a grin, snagging a shirt and shutting the drawer.

"That rule, the anyone who touches my little brother will have their goddamn lungs ripped out of their chest rule is now and will forever by the stone cold number one rule on that list, little brother," Dean said as he met and held Sam's gaze for another second before finally taking a step away from the door to head for the kitchen. "Don't fall asleep in the shower cause I am not hauling your ass out of there…bitch," he added once he was a few steps away and chose to throw in the familiar insult at the last second.

It had just been recently that the once familiar teasing comment had been used again. It was another way Sam could tell that things had finally crossed a bridge and were alright between them again. "Just don't burn the burgers, jerk," he shot back and smiled fully for the first time in days at the sound of Dean's laugh echoing thru the bunker.

He wasn't sure how they'd beat the Darkness or even if they'd come out of it alive. All Sam did know was that he had faith that if it could be done that he and Dean would see it done. They'd handle the fallout or consequences of the act together like it had always been before.

 **The End**


End file.
